Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) Secretary Eduardo Año stressed Friday, July 16, that President Duterte’s bid to curb illegal drugs in the country has gained ample ground as the government institutionalized its campaign against all forms of criminality.

During the pre-State of the Nation Address (SONA) forum of the Participatory Governance Cluster, Año said that the system to combat criminality has been institutionalized as he noted this will help ensure its continuation even if a new administration takes over next year.

"We have institutionalized our campaign through our peace and order council in the LGUs (local government units) as well as the formation of anti-drug abuse councils from provinces down to the barangay. We conduct an annual audit on their functions and likewise out of the 42,000 plus barangays nationwide, 41,950 or about 99.69 percent have organized BADACs (Barangay Anti-Drug Abuse Councils). Because of that, out of this 42,000 plus barangays, about 21,891 barangays have been cleared from illegal drugs,” Año said.

The DILG chief noted that the fight against criminality led to the arrest of over 289,000 drug personalities including over 12,000 high-value targets.

“We have destroyed 757 drug dens and laboratories. It has a direct effect on peace order and out of these operations against illegal drugs, we have confiscated a total of P59.14 billion worth of shabu, cocaine, marijuana and other illegal drug substances. It caused also the surrender of about 1.3 million all over the country,” he added.

With its relentless anti-illegal drug campaign, Año noted that the country’s peace and order situation has dramatically turned for the better.

“From the second semester of 2016, we have a crime volume of 292,589. This decreased to 193,103 in the first semester of 2021. So this means the peace and order situation improved,” Año said.

Citing the 2020 Global Law and Order Report by international analytics firm Gallup, Año said the Philippines barged into the top 50 safest countries in the world.

The Philippines obtained a rating of 84 -- tied with Australia, New Zealand, Poland and Serbia which is slightly higher than the country’s 82 index score for the world in 2019 by the global analytics firm.

“In Southeast Asia, we are ranked at number four. Number one is Singapore. Tuloy tuloy lang ating kampanya (Our campaign will be continuous) and every week submitted (reports) to the President and hope the citizens will continue to support our campaign against illegal drugs),” Año said.